[–] corran 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
In a concentrated solar array (the circular power plants in the picture), you do lose solar power at night. They power the steam turbine seen in the stack at the center, and at night, they're completely down because there isn't sufficient incoming solar power to sufficiently heat the turbine. The newer designs are connected to a battery storage grid as Pattoe mentioned. I've been to one, worked on one.
I assumed the ones in the game would be the ones that use batteries. Not only would it make them more useful in this game where you haven't got a whole national grid to rely on, but it just makes more sense and is practical.
The way they've done it seems to be merely a way of saying "Ha, look, night time IS different!"
[–] Enigmius1 [S] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
My only reservation about using mods is also a very big one...bad things happen when mods end up broken. They break a lot, and the more mods a person uses, the harder it is to figure out which one is causing your game to crash or which one is making all of the north faces of your buildings disappear.
Losing power at night, like you say, is silly. Realism isn't even really the issue. If they shut down at night, there's no use in using them because there are no other mechanics that support a reduction in power at night. Whatever is providing your city with power has to be working 24 hours a day and if it's not, it's just wasted money keeping the facility turned on.